Touhou: Peculiar Peppo Predicament
by KnightofthecutOnion
Summary: After The Shrine Maiden of Paradise, Reimu Hakurei has a particularly rough night's sleep. She wakes up to only find out she's being roped into an irksome plan by Yukari, and to make things even worse an unsightly yet rather innocent youkai shows up at her shrine. Her day only gets worse from there as it seems a new incident is about to occur.
1. Prologue

-Prologue

"Was this real, was this just a nightmare, was she going to die?" Many thoughts flowed through the young girl's head as she ran through the dark forest as fast as her feet could carry her. She was being chased by a creature with canine features as what appeared to be feathered wings as far as she could see and from the growls and glint of sharp teeth, she figured it only had the most ill of intents in chasing her.

The distant lights of a settlement came into view as the beast started to grow closer to the fleeing girl, she thought to herself "Just a bit longer then I will be safe!", however distracted by her thoughts she ended up tripping and falling flat on her face. She tried to get up and resume running but, by the time she came to her senses the shadowy beast was just a few strides away from her; giving up she closed her eyes and hoped for a miracle to happen as what she thought to be a winged hound approached her.

She heard what sounded cloth blowing in the wind and to her surprise her pursuer had not sunk their fangs into her, something must have stopped its assault. She opened her eyes to she a girl, a perhaps somewhere in her late teens, standing between her and the beast that sought to kill her, the would-be victim of the attack could not make out her saviour's appearance in the dark but felt immediate relief upon seeing the distinct red and white clothing they wore. The saviour in red and white garb announced in a calm, albeit commanding tone of voice "What do we have here, a big scary youkai terrorizing a little kid. We can't have that, now can we!", The youkai in surprise leapt to it's hind legs and responded in smooth, smarmy tone "Now there beautiful, there's no need to stain your delicate hands in blood tonight, I was just having a little fun you see". The saviour muttered to herself "Typical, he just had to be a sleaze" before making a few distinct hand movements and conjuring a glowing sphere of two a red and white hue, similar that of her clothing. Illuminating the area around them and striking the youkai with terror; surprisingly what the pursued girl thought was a winged hound turned out to resemble a young man with black hair, a beard, mustache, orange eyes and as she thought she saw earlier pointed ears covered in fur a color similar to his hair, and dark brown feathered wings. Her saviour had long hair that was dark brown and most prominently a large red bow in her hair, the girl knew from stories she heard that her saviour was indeed Reimu Hakurei, someone who had saved countless lives many times before and the Shrine Maiden of the Hakurei Shrine. The shrine maiden known as Reimu said to the now terrified youkai "You have ten seconds to run before I exterminate you!" she then started counting down and upon the number six the youkai shouted out "Damn you! I'll find a way to make my start as a feared youkai I swear!" and flew off retreating far from view.

Reimu dissipated the sphere and helped the girl to her feet saying to the girl with much more friendly tone "There I got you now, you will be home in no time!". When the two entered the safety of the village Reimu told the girl "Don't go out alone again okay, I saved you once, but I might not be able to do that again!". The girl happily responded, "No need to worry I'm going to be a brave and powerful youkai hunter just like you one day!" while happily skipping towards a nearby home. The door opened, and a middle-aged woman opened it to pick up and hug the child she said" Oh Tsuki I was so worried about you! Don't you remember that it's dangerous outside at night?" Tsuki responded to what "I am sorry mommy, I met a fairy who wanted to show me a new tree, it had a white trunk and gold leaves the fairy then gave me a silver acorn!".Tsuki's mother said "Oh it doesn't matter now, all I care about is that your safe" before taking her hand and walking with her through the doorway.

Before the door nearly closed Tsuki ran out and said to Reimu "Thank you! Miss Hakurei, I appreciate what you have done for me!". Tsuki's mother sighed and walked to the miko and saying gratefully "I'm guessing your responsible for my daughter's safe return, if I can do anything to in return for saving my daughter please let me know". Reimu hearing the mother's offer her eyes to lit up instantly, she said "If you want to help me in the future please donate to the Hakurei Shrine, give whatever you can". Tsuki's mother replied "Certainly, Lady Hakurei, I'll give you a visit tomorrow and provide a nice offering for your shrine". Reimu bowed to the family and noticing how weary she was getting told the family "I hope you bring something really nice!" before flying back to an old lonely shrine in the nearby a mountain, this was clearly the Hakurei Shrine she spoke of. As she landed and open a panel door, she noticed a small creature quickly run past her feet, Reimu sighed to herself and muttered "I'll get some new mousetraps tomorrow I'm too tired for things now". She hobbled over to a bed and flopped onto it thinking back on the feelings she had when reuniting the child with her mother, a part of her felt happy to do a good deed and be recognized for it, a part of her felt a little sad although she couldn't place her finger on. She drifted to sleep hoping have a less eventful day.


	2. Part 1: A Strange Encounter

-Part one: A strange encounter with an even stranger visitor

"Don't worry Reimu, I'll be home soon just wait for me, just be patient, it's just a routine patrol, I have come back before and I will again" said a calm, feminine voice coming from a tall woman obscured in shadow, they began to slide the panel door closed leaving nothing in the shrine except deathly silence.

Reimu woke immediately with tears streaming down her face, unable to remember anything about the mysterious woman's voice but that it hurt her deeply. She wanted to drift back to sleep only to hear a "Plunk!" Reimu leapt to her feet and cried out happily "It's time! I hope Tsuki and her mother brought lots of things for the shrine!". As she opened the panel door her expression of excitement immediately turned into one of disappointment.

A small girl with short brown hair, ears and two tails that resembled that of a cat, clad in a red dress with a contrasting green hat was standing outside with a mischievous smile on her face. Reimu with a taking a hold of a wooden rod with braided paper strands said flatly "Hello Chen. What brings you to the shrine today, let me guess Yukari", Chen happily answered "Yes! You guessed correctly, Yukari and Miss Ran tasked me with delivering a message to you". Reimu opened the offertory box and noticed there were several large rocks, a small envelope and a smashed bottle of sake, she then realized why Chen was grinning, she was throwing rocks into the box while waiting for Reimu to respond! Reimu glared at Chen for the girl with cat ears to respond "I had to wake you up somehow! You were snoring really loudly!", Reimu shouted at her "There's broken glass in my donation box! You are going to clear it up or I'll send you back to Yukari in the box!" Chen squealed and said, "Yes Mam!" before carefully picking out shards of glass and pulling the sake-soaked envelope to hand to Reimu.

While Reimu opened the envelope, she noticed it was shockingly dry inside, dismissing it as merely Yukari's meddling she began to read the incredibly fancy letter.

Written on it was the message," Dear Reimu Hakurei, it has recently come to my attention you are two years past the Human Village's standard age of marriage and have yet to be romantically involved with anyone.

This is unfortunate considering one of your duties as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden and Protector of Gensokyo is to pass on your knowledge and traditions to descendants, so they can continue lest you pass.

Besides you are blossoming into a lovely young woman, you deserve a little love in your life, don't you think?

To help you I have taken it upon myself to find some handsome and capable young men from the village for you to meet, they will be arriving at noon and I would like for you to consider at least one of them for marriage… or at least a night of passion.

Sincerely: Yukari Yakumo

PS: You actually don't have a choice, by noon I will find you and bring you back regardless of where you are".

Reimu rolled her eyes and said to herself "Dammit Yukari! I wanted to have a peaceful day today!" before tearing the letter to shreds. Chen cried out "I'm done! Not a single shard in the donation box anymore" Reimu looked to the feline visitor to see she cut her hands badly in the process Reimu was briefly panicked before she remembered the fact the young girl, she was speaking to was in fact a youkai and that such an injury was nothing to them. This warranted a scowl from the shrine maiden, and Chen giggling as the wounds disappeared immediately. The cat youkai started walking off while saying "See you in the afternoon!". Right before Chen was about to disappear from the Shrine Maiden's view, she started sniffing around she then called out to Reimu "You should clean the shrine before Miss Ran and Yukari show up, it smells like something died around here" before disappearing.

Reimu sighed and said, "I just cleaned the shrine yesterday, it couldn't have gotten that bad overnight". She started to start notice the stench of death herself and thought to herself "Oh god, she was right! Did she leave a dead rat in my house or something?" she then heard the patter of small feet and to see tiny human-like footprints around the outside of shrine, she rushed inside to see an open drawer.

She called out loud "Sukuna! If you wanted to visit you could just ask, there was no reason to sneak in!" she as she drew closer the smell became stronger, as she began to peak into the drawer the stench became so strong, she started to feel nauseous.

She saw in the drawer a disgusting looking creature that looked like a lump of pallid wrinkled flesh with stubby arms and legs. It was munching on a moldy loaf of bread casually as it slowly turned to show its disgusting face with misaligned eyes, a crooked nose and a mouth with sparse teeth. Reimu pulled back in shock letting out a startled gasp, the creature followed suit by running out at a shockingly fast speed and falling flat on it's 'face' which happened to compose most of its body.

Seeing that the creature stopped moving Reimu said to herself "Out of all my experiences as a shrine maiden this is the first time, I found a youkai that exterminated itself. She began to poke it checking to see if it's still alive. It immediately started twitching and then started to roll face-up and then lifted itself to its feet. Reimu at least slightly glad the creature hadn't died forced a smile and asked the peculiar creature "So what is you name and why are you in my shrine? The creature pointed to itself with a stubby finger and uttered "Pppppepppp!", then pointed to the drawer it was found and followed the Shrine maiden's question by saying "Peppp". Reimu sighed and said to herself "Oh joy, it understands me, but I can't make out a word of what it's saying". She then tried to push it out of her Shrine saying, "Look I would like to help you, but Yukari has forced me into something, and I have got to prepare myself to turn down a whole ton of men. If you mess things up Yukari is going to get back at me somehow!". The creature tried to resist but quickly ended up getting shoved out of the front door. It just stood outside the panel door in response, its shadow visible through the paper. Reimu then started looking in the drawer to see what the creature had eaten, much to her surprise it ignored the fresh foods entirely and consumed only consumed what had expired, Reimu said to herself noticing this fact "You know, if this thing weren't so gross looking it would be helpful to have around, that and the smell". She looked back at the creature's shadow and calmly said to the creature "Look you're a youkai and it's my job to exterminate youkai, if you don't leave, I'll have to exterminate you too!".

The strange youkai didn't respond at all, in fact it didn't even moved Reimu was surprised by this seeing how it had seemed to understand her speech previously and opened the door to see it if merely couldn't hear her. She noticed it seemed quite scared and that a small blonde girl wearing a black dress staring at the fleshy lump youkai salivating heavily. Reimu pointed the wooden rod with paper strands at the child and asked them in irate tone "What are you up to Rumia? Are you really so interested in that thing to just stand outside and stare at it?", The child now identified and Rumia a little slow on the uptake responded by saying "Ah Reimu, I found something that smells really tasty outside your door and I was wondering if I should eat it". The shrine maiden thought to herself "Really? this youkai must be crazy to think this thing is anywhere near edible", she then looked down at the creature the girl in black was intending on eating noticing it shaking in fear and Rumia baring a set of sharp teeth waiting to tear into the creature, in that moment feeling a moment of pity for the creature she said "No Rumia, this creature is not to be eaten, it's a youkai just like you".

Rumia tilted her head and said in response "Is that so?" she then smirked and shouted, "THEN I'LL JUST HAVE A NIBBLE THEN!" before pouncing at the small blobby youkai, Reimu however warded Rumia off with the wooden rod she wielded declaring "This creature is not yours to kill! For today it's under my protection!". Rumia drew back saying "Oh come on Reimu! Even humans eat this youkai!" before backing off and saying to herself "And I thought you were starting to get cool!". Rumia then stumbled down the steps and out of view as she forgot to turn around and look where she's going.

Reimu noticing the little youkai was now hugging her leg she said to herself "Well it looks like I have to deal with you now, first I guess I will have to hide your scent, if a youkai like Rumia can smell you stronger youkai are bound to cause more trouble for you down the road and I can only fight so many at once". She then noticed her donation box and said to herself "I wonder if this will work" remembering how the box had a bottle of sake spill all over the inside of it. She then picked the youkai, wincing due to slimy feeling of its skin and set it in the box noticing that Chen had did a good job cleaning the inside of it.

She muttered to herself "Maybe I was too harsh too her, she probably didn't mean to cause a mess, she just got really bored waiting for me", Then noting the scent of wasted alcohol was still quite strong she said to the creature "There, now only youkai with the sharpest senses will notice you. The creature happily announced "PEP!" and the shrine maiden began to carry the box with the creature in it hoping to find the fleshy blob youkai a new home.


	3. Part 2: What is this thing anyway?

-Part two: What is this thing anyway?

Reimu knew exactly where to go first, walking through the village carrying the box with through the streets heading to the south exit of the nearby village, to which a temple that supported youkai and humans alike stood. If anyone knew how to take care of a helpless youkai, and what this creature may be.

The shrine maiden was rather reluctant to approach the temple acknowledging that ever since they appeared her shrine had most of the visitors to her Shrine, meager as they could be decided to frequent them instead. As a result, she knew she had to see them as rivals to her faith and wellbeing as a miko, but there was also a part of her that found it hard to hate the people there, they all seemed to lack the aggressively competitive streak other rivals that Reimu had dealt with seemed to have.

As she was busy thinking about possible alternatives to consulting a rival faith for a solution to her predicament. She ended up ignoring a greeting from a blonde girl about her own age, clad in a black and white dress, with apron, and lastly and oversized pointed hat, all of which gave her the appearance of a quintessential witch. This black and white witch rather irritated by being ignored by the shrine maiden ran ahead of the shrine maiden and put herself in the path of the miko. Reimu still a little distracted by her thoughts nearly collided into the witch only stopping after the passenger in the donation box started hobbling around the inside. As Reimu was about to check the contents of the box to see if the thing inside was okay the witch asked "Hey Reimu, what's got ya moping around so much? You usually don't ignore yer best pal when she tries to say hello". This quickly switching her gaze from the box to the impatient witch she replied apologetically "Oh hello Marisa, I am on an errand and I have until noon to complete it, I don't have much time to talk, sorry!". Marisa clearly not convinced with the replied said "Look Reimu, I know something is up, I have not seen ya look this bad fer years, there's no use hiding things from me". Reimu sighed to herself, she knew seeing how she had in fact been friends with Marisa ever since they were small said "Look I am having a bad day right now, let's just say I had a terrible dream, get roped into something stupid by Yukari and found a little weirdo in my house!".

Marisa chuckled and responded, "Rough day I see, if it's any consolation I am not having the best time myself, A tree's root grew through mah house, Alice wants to introduce me to her family, and Patchouli swears next time I steal her books she'll kill me" strangely seeming to take everything surprisingly well by the casual tone of her voice. Reimu thought to herself" A tree, where did I hear that before? Wait could that little girl Tsuki be telling the truth?" she then asked her witch-like friend "This tree? What does it look like?" with a newfound curiosity she didn't expect herself to have. Marisa nonchalantly responded, "Pure white bark and golden leaves, and I mean golden, you can see your reflection on 'em". Reimu was rather distressed by this, she thought that Tsuki was just making some crazy story for her mother, but it was real, not only that but Reimu had no idea in the slightest what it could mean.

Marisa waved a hand in front of Reimu's face and said "Hey, what got ya so unsettled" her calm demeanour shifting into one of concern at her friend's change in expression. Reimu said in response "I think that tree is an incident just waiting to happen, and I think the intruder in my shrine is connected". she then with a small jump began to fly carrying the box in tow.

Marisa retrieved what looked like a broom and began to fly after her leaving a trail of what appeared to be small glowing stars. Within no time, she caught up to Reimu who was hindered by the box's wait and couldn't outpace her friend, when the two were directly side-by-side Marisa asked Reimu "So where are ya going? and what's so interesting about this intruder?". Reimu letting out sigh exclaimed "Okay a youkai showed up in my shrine and I have no idea what it is, I was thinking of taking it to the Myouren temple to find out, but I think I have decided against it now, maybe I will visit Akyuu instead". Marisa in an attempt to calm down her friend said, "Oh come on Reimu they monks there aren't that bad, their Amagimi has offered to give me free magic lessons, they help the poor and they are closer to us right now anyway!". Reimu realizing her proximity to the temple already said "Okay, okay I'll pay them a visit, but if they say anything to tick me off, I am heading straight for Akyuu". Marisa reached over and gave Reimu a pat on the back saying "There you go! Reimu I bet yer going take a shine to them if ya give 'em another chance" as they began to see the temple in right below them the two magical maidens slowly drifted down to land at the temple's gate. At the gate was a young girl, at least one head height shorter than Marisa, who was the shortest of the two visitors. The girl at the gate had teal hair and eyes and a pale pink dress; she also had a short brown tail and floppy brown ears resembling that of a dog, she seemed exceptionally happy while sweeping the temple grounds humming a tune during the process. Marisa waved to the canine youkai and said "Hello Kyouko, hows yer album going?", The small youkai stopped sweeping briefly and shouted back "HELLO KYOUKO! HOW'S YER ALBUM GOING!" a lot louder than anything that a girl of her size could be expected to shout. Seeing Reimu's shocked expression and Marisa retrieving her hat that was blown away by the shout Kyouko blushed and apologetically in a much demurer tone "Oh sorry, Marisa I'm just really excited about the new song I finished writing, me and Mystia are going to perform it next week in the village square". Marisa walked over to her and patted the youkai girl's head saying "There ya go, I knew ya would overcome yer writer's block yer a really talented musician as I told ya" this caused the youkai to scratch the back of her head as she replied "Aw shucks, I'm just a girl trying to vent my frustration in a non-violent manner".

Kyouko then noticing Reimu carrying the donation box and asked Marisa "Why is she lugging that heavy crate around?" she then started sniffing and added to her question "and why does it smell like that place Miss Kumoi says I'm too young to go to?". Marisa was about to say something before Reimu respond by impatiently saying "I'm using it to carry something I need to show to your Amagimi…I mean Byakuren". Kyouko jumped happily and asked "Oh is it a gift for Miss Hijiri? She's been feeling miserable after those nasty Shikaisen trashed some graves recently, especially when an old urn was dug up and smashed by that pretty one with blue hair. All of us have been getting her gifts to cheer her up, my gift to her was the new song I wrote, some man with silver hair gave her a book, Mami gave her a scroll with some drawing and Miss Shou is out to get even? I don't know what she means by that". Marisa said in response "Danggit that sounds rough, remind me to get somethin' fer her okay, she really didn't deserve that". Reimu sighed and said to herself impatiently "Those hermits act more like youkai than the youkai here!" before walking ahead of Marisa and passing the youkai at the gate, Kyouko looked a little puzzled at Reimu and Marisa said to the youkai girl to allay her confusion "Don't worry she's been having a rough day herself" before following the shrine maiden.

The Tempe grounds were a clean and paved with grey stones filled with many strange and unique creatures some clad in Kesa working diligently, many others in varied outfits wandering around the grounds and chatting with each other, and very small number of humans who were heading over to the graveyard out in the back. Reimu said impatiently "It looks like they are busy I guess I'll head to Akyuu's mansion now, make sure to get Byakuren an extra gift and say it's from me, I will reimburse you later!". Marisa rather unamused said to Reimu "Ya know, ya told me yer in a hurry but yer wasting a lot of time by being going back and forth with whether or not ya want to be here. Yer giving me some real mixed signals". Reimu sighed and followed her friend through the door to the large of the large, albeit modest temple structure.

Immediately upon entering the building the two were standing in large room with simple dark hardwood floor and a green, unadorned carpet, at the end of the opposite to the was a very tall woman appearing to be in her early to mid twenties, seated in seiza position with her hands on her lap, she had long flowing hair that was light brown yet faded to purple at the top and was clad in a white dress that with a black top over it , held on through black strips of fabric laced in a crossed pattern along the middle, along with the layered dress, she also wore a necklace with green glass beads over it. While she was wearing a gentle and welcoming smile it could be seen that her face around her eyes was sore, she was clearly crying not too long ago.

Marisa seeing this woman, ran over to her and immediately gave her a hug, the woman was surprised to receive such affection at first but quickly put her own arms around the young witch reciprocating the display of affection. Reimu felt a short pang of the same feeling she had last night when she saw Tsuki and her mother, now she could now identify it as a mix of jealousy and longing, still trying to stay polite however she hid her feelings and approached the woman her friend was so happy to see. Marisa released the woman from her hug, noticing Reimu motioned woman gently waved to the shrine maiden and asked in a soft voice that most would find soothing "Reimu Hakurei, what brings you to the temple today? May I be of service to you?". Reimu now standing in front of the woman responded nervously "Well Byakuren, in this box I have a youkai, it showed up in my shrine recently, and it got itself nearly killed".

The woman now identified as Byakuren, the Amagimi of the temple raised an eyebrow and said "I see, I would object to carrying living creature in such an odorous container, but I am glad that you brought a youkai in need to my temple" she then motioned for the miko to sit down and asked her "Can I see this youkai? I have an idea as to what it might be, but I need to confirm my suspicions". Reimu set the box on the ground and sat down behind it, slowly undoing it's latches to undo the lid. Marisa letting the suspense get to her said "Oh come on Reimu, let's see this critter!" leaning in to hastily undo the latches herself opening it to get a glimpse of the strange creature. Quite similarly to Reimu's first encounter to this creature Marisa jumped in surprise clearly startled by the grotesque creature. She drew a small hexagonal object from a pocket in her apron and pointed it at the creature and said "Ah crap Reimu, you should have warned me! This thing looks as if it's entire life is suffering!".

Byakuren said in response to Marisa's shock "dear child, that 'thing' is a Nuppeppo a very young one at that, it's a completely harmless youkai whose life if unimpeded can be a long and joyous one" in a slightly irate but still very calm tone of voice, Marisa rather embarrassed put away the hexagonal object and said in response to Amagimi "Sorry Byakuren, it's just I hadn't seen something that, peculiar, I didn't mean what I said, it's not that bad now that I am giving it a second look". Byakuren returning to her original demeanor looked at the Nuppeppo and asked it "So young one, where do you come from?", the Nuppeppo replied "Pppppppeeeeepp!" Byakuren's gentle smile turned to a look of concern as she asked the small youkai "Do you know where your parent is?" the Nuppeppo replied by looking down and saying" Ppppepp". The monk said in response to that utterance "I see, many apologies for asking" before her concerned expression changed to a full frown.

Marisa asked Byakuren "So what's this Nuppeppo saying?" the soft-spoken monk replied "Oh sorry Marisa, this must be quite confusing for you, apparently the Nuppeppo's home was destroyed by a tree that grew at an incredible speed. When it was fleeing with it's siblings and parent, a pack of hounds attacked them" Similarly confused, Reimu asked the head monk "Why are you calling this Nuppeppo and 'it' and saying 'parent' is there any reason for that?", Byakuren answered the miko's question by saying" Well unlike most youkai that have male and female members of their species, all Nuppeppo are neither male nor female, as a result their species reproduces without need for a mate" she resumed to smiling, her usual gentle smile clearly happy to educate the two visitors about youkai biology. Reimu thought to herself "Damn now I'm actually starting to envy that little blob, they would never have to deal with running out of time to pass on their bloodline, they could just pop kids into existence whenever they want".

Reimu then remembering her social engagement Yukari roped her into, leapt to her feet and declared "Looks like you found yourself a new Sangha! I hope they serve the temple well!" before trying to walk off only to be stopped by Byakuren calling out to her, much to the shrine maidens dismay "Oh dear Reimu, I was just about to inform you that this Nuppeppo is not safe even if they were to live on my temple grounds". Reimu turned back to face the Amagimi and pleaded "Oh come on Hijiri! I'm in a real hurry, can't you at least take care of the youkai for a night?".

Byakuren stood up and walked towards Reimu, she asked the shrine maiden "I see you are incredibly tense right now; do you wish to talk about it? I understand you must be shouldering a great burden as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, such an unexpected occurrence like a lost youkai child must be more than you could bear. I will not hold it against you if differ such a task to me" she then pulled Reimu into a hug and added "I would really love if you provided me some company though on an excursion to relocate this youkai however", Reimu realizing her face was pressed firmly against Byakuren's bosom, pushed the friendly monk away, yet again filled with another mix of emotions she struggled to understand, shouting in the process "GET OFF ME, YOU FAITH STEALING, BUSTY, DEMON QUEEN, QUIT TRYING TO CONVERT ME!" This of course warranted a sigh from Byakuren and her attempting to say apologetically "I am sorry Miss Hakurei, I overstep- "Marisa interrupted angrily "Reimu, what's the big deal? She was just trying to be nice to ya!" she then closed the box, lifted it and walked to Byakuren's side declaring confidently "Well Byakuren ya can count me in on your team! Consider it a way of showing thanks for ya teaching some of yer spells, and to make up for what she said"

Byakuren smiled warmly at the witch's support and replied to her declaration "Oh Marisa, thank you for your offer, I appreciate it dearly" she then then took the box from Marisa's hands with one arm effortlessly while saying "Let me do the carrying, I don't want you to tire yourself out". The witch and head monk then began to walk out the front door both quite happy to be in each other's company.

Reimu then slumped down against a wall in the Temple and said to herself "Dammit! I made myself look like an utter a**hole in front of Marisa, and now all I can do is wait for Yukari to come and take me", she then thought about what she said to Hijiri and cringed not only was the insult totally undeserved it was probably the most idiotic thing she had said period. Feeling her rage and self loathing building she kicked a nearby vase shouting out loud "WHY DO I HAVE TO BE A TOTAL B*TCH SOMETIMES!". The vase was undamaged but to her surprise a snarky voice came from it, saying "Well dearie, maybe you would be a better person if you didn't kick random vases". Reimu jumped in shock and readied a handful of Ofuda from inside one of her sleeves, the vase then began to shake and a large fluffy striped tail popped out it's opening and in a puff of smoke it turned into an older woman, possibly late thirties to early forties with the very same fluffy tail that was in the vase, and small brown pointed ears, She wore an ecru shirt and red grey skirt ,rather ordinary brown hair and circular lensed glasses that were currently cracked. She rose to her feet and said, "I saw the whole thing by the way, no need to tell me". Reimu still rather startled by the youkai's disguise uttered "Dammit Mamizou! You almost gave me a heart attack!".

The woman slightly resembling a raccoon retorted "And a foot flying towards my face wouldn't give me one? I'm not as young as I look dearie". Reimu still quite surprised asked Mamizou "What were you doing pretending to be a vase anyway?", Mamizou tossed away her broken glasses, pulled a spare set from a pocket and donned them, she admitted afterwards "Well Hijiri was getting a lot of gifts from visitors to cheer her up, some of the gifts were some sweets, she keeps to a strict diet so I was going to take them off her hands, with her permission of course". Reimu thought to herself "Oh yeah the Taoists trashed some graves recently, I forgot about that", she then asked, "So do you know why this event messed her up so badly?". Mamizou said "Well let's just say they desecrated the burial of someone Hijiri cared for, she even named the temple after them" she then shrugged and added "Not sure why they weren't in buried in the Outside World considering the timeline, but things happened regardless".

Reimu thought to herself" Dammit, and I thought I had a rough day, it looks like everyone is going through something horrible, the white tree can't have something to do with it can it?". She then embarrassedly asked Mamizou "So do you know a way to make it up to Marisa and Hijiri for that outburst? You seem to know how to talk to people better than me". Mamizou chortled saying through her laugh" Well you can stop being a whippersnapper and apologize for once in your life. Youkai have started to think you would explode if those words were to leave your lips". Reimu then acknowledging what she had to do leapt into action flying out the room to find her best friend and the kind Bhikkhuni, which as of now took precedence over the Nuppeppo. Mamizou sat down and started drinking from her gourd thinking to herself "What a troubled girl, I do not envy whoever had to raise her".


	4. Part 3: Tooth and Nail

Reimu had checked the outside of the temple, the village roads and even back at her shrine in the hope they were waiting for her. "Okay Reimu, think where they could be, Forest of Magic? It's likely but I could spend all day looking for them, Youkai Mountain? Well that might be a good place for a youkai to live but they probably wouldn't have reached there yet, Misty Lake has the mansion, I bet the Scarlet sisters would take in a weirdo like that Nuppeppo" The miko went though all the probabilities as to where the two could be while flying to vantage points to look for them.

Much to her surprise while flying she heard a youthful voice declare loudly "IT'S SPRING!" Reimu shook her head and said to herself "Oh god of Hakurei, not you" right in front of the Shrine Maiden a small girl in a white hat and dress with a matching shawl appeared, she had a red wave pattern along her the edges of her clothes and four wings that appeared feathered, lastly she had long blond hair and green eyes. The girl in white wore and innocent smile as she asked the shrine maiden "Have you heard the good news? IT'S SPRING!" with that exuberant inquiry the girl in white fired of many glowing spheres of some energy, the shrine maiden sighed and weaved through the pattern that was coming at her, she noticed by the color of the leaves it was Autumn and said to the girl "You know it's not spring right Lily?" The girl tilted her head and uttered quizzically "Not spring? But I only feel this happy during the spring and I am really happy right now".

Reimu groaned and tried to fly past her, but the girl blocked her path again crying out "SPPPPRRRINNNNNGG!" before dispersing more spheres for Reimu to dodge. The shrine maiden, pointed at the ground and said "Look fairy, it's not spring! Now let me go past you!". The seasonal enthusiast looked at the ground and said happily "Oh that, it's Orange Spring! anyway I can't let you pass until I see a smile on your face!". The shrine maiden then coming with the idea asked the Spring obsessed fairy "Did you see a girl in a big hat and a tall woman with purple and brown hair?" she felt the question was going to be answered with a declaration of the season but to her surprise the fairy said "Oh yes, I saw this blonde girl with a broom and this straw hat wearing woman who had this shaky stick that made jingling sounds" the fairy then asked the miko "Why do you ask? Are you trying to reunite with your sister and mama?"

Reimu felt upset again and said to the fairy impatiently "They are neither my mama or my sister, just… friends okay!" then realizing how her anger got the better of her last time she said "Sorry, I just don't have a lot of time". Lily replied warmly "Don't worry I understand, you want to meet your girlfriends, they are what makes you smile!" the fairy kept her innocent smile throughout unaware that the comment warranted a blush from Reimu. The shrine maiden thought to herself "dammit Lily, that was not a good choice of words" she then put on a very fake smile and asked the fairy "Do you remember where you last saw them?". Lily nodded happily and pointed at a clearing and declared proudly "They were there half an hour ago and headed north, I remember the lady in the straw hat noticing me and calling me cute". Reimu now genuinely happy, gratefully said to the fairy "Good job Lily! You are certainly giving me a smile right now". The fairy then cried out "SSSSSPPPPPPRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNGGG!" before flitting firing a storm of energy so immense Reimu had to land in the clearing to avoid the projectiles.

As she landed, she thought to herself "Was it just me or did that fairy fire a harsher barrage than before, I might just be distracted though". She then quickly tried to investigate the area, many different types of foot prints were in the area some tiny, she assumed belonging to fairies, other's were immense, she assumed they belonged to some youkai she has yet to meet, lastly a long grove in the ground; unfortunately none of the footprints resembled anything a Sangha or a witch would leave. Reimu clearly upset with her lack of luck said to herself "Dammit why is investigation so hard? Why can't someone useful show up so I can beat information out of them?". As she tried to walk a little west of the clearing in vain hope that she chose the right direction she ended up absentmindedly slipping on a patch of ice, landing of her side.

Realizing how out of season ice was, and its convenient placement Reimu sighed and cried out in feigned surprise "Oh no, it looks like I slipped and fell, who ever could have committed such a brilliant prank". Then almost on cue a small girl in a blue dress, with blue hair and blue eyes emerged from a nearby bush, interestingly she had ice crystals on her back, forming wings. The very blue girl proudly announced "It was I, the strongest, smartest, bravest and coolest fairy in Gensokyo, it is I, the cold-maker, the ice-sculptor, the blizzard-person, Cirno!" she then assumed a 'dramatic' pose and declared "You have fallen into my trap and now, if you admit my superiority now I will not freeze you like a frog!".

A shy and demure voice called out from the same bush "Cirno please don't lie, you said you were trying to prank the mean youkai that trampled my flower patch, weren't you?". Cirno said with a sigh "Sorry Dai I just got a little carried away seeing the Shrine Maiden fall for my…what was the word again", the shy friend of the boisterous fairy replied "trap, the word is trap". Cirno then finished her sentence saying, "yeah that thanks Dai!". The cryokinetic fairy then said, "Oh yeah sorry Reimu I forgot to introduce my friend Daiyousei, Come on Daiyousei come on a greet her!".

From the bush a fairy emerged from the bushes, with wings that resembled pale blue glass with a gold trim, she had green hair tied into a side ponytail, and was clad in a light blue dress in a style similar to her friend, interestingly she at least a head height taller than Cirno. The shy fairy known as Daiyousei said shyly "Oh Hi Reimu my name is not actually Daiyousei, it's more of a nickname so –". Cirno interrupted her saying "Great Dai now you and Reimu are friends! You two should fight to seal the deal!" this of course warranted Daiyousei to frown and keep quiet.

Reimu picking up on the mention of a youkai asked Daiyousei "So Dai, youkai trampled your flowers? Do you know anything about what they looked like or where they are now?". Daiyousei answered nervously "Well, there were at least eight of them when I arrived, my patch was probably in the way, but they were really mean about it, I saw one of them flick Willow into a tree so hard she exploded into dust! They were headed- ", again before Daiyousei finished Cirno interrupted "Come on, Dai challenge Reimu to a spellcard duel! I'll join you, in fact I'll start things off!". The shy fairy sighed and muttered to herself "You aren't this hyper usually Cirno, why are you being so inconsiderate".

Reimu realizing she couldn't get anything out of the shy fairy with Cirno as hyper as she is behaving stood up and declared while drawing Ofuda from her sleeve"Ice Fairy Cirno, I accept your challenge, if you win, I'll become best friends with Daiyousei if you lose I get to talk to her by herself!" she realized that regardless of the outcome she could probably get the green haired fairy by herself for questioning.

The two of them floated above the forest ready for their battle Cirno rather arrogantly announced "I'll go easy on you I don't want you crying in front of Dai" Reimu responded "Don't speak too soon I am no slouch in battle!". With further ado the fight began, with Cirno firing icicles, snowballs, and mystical projectiles of other kinds, Reimu having had skill in battle wove through the pattern with relative ease although as least a few of the projectiles just barely hit her abdomen, causing her to shiver a little, she returned fire throwing many Ofuda most of them hitting true, notably affecting the ice fairy.

The slightly injured ice fairy let out a hearty laugh and then pulled out a card with a very crude drawing on it, she said with a confident smile "Now this fight's exciting! Time to kick it up a notch", holding it above her head she then dramatically declared "Ice Sign: Icicle Fall". The card then glowed and Cirno fired a barrage of icicles to the left and right of her, Reimu didn't even have to dodge it she just positioned herself between the barrage of icicles and some tossed some Ofuda at the fairy even floating over to bonk the fairy on the head with the rod that happened to be among her arsenal. Cirno rather irritated by the failed attack cried out "DON'T MOCK ME! MY NEXT SPELL CARD WILL BE MUCH BETTER!" Reimu responded by bonking the fairy again with her Gohei ending the barrage and clearly infuriating the fairy.

Cirno somewhere in a state between fury and bursting into tears said "I'm not going to let you leave not becoming friends with Dai! She doesn't have many, she just doesn't like fighting!". She then drew another card, this one a lot better drawn and refined she then warned "I don't remember making this spell card, but it sounds really powerful!". Reimu rolled her eyes and thought to herself "She probably just found it lying around and assumed it was her's". Cirno then declared "Absolute Cold: Prison of Cocytus!", nothing happened at first, and Reimu thought to herself "It probably belongs to Letty,I should let her know after the fight". Much to her surprise an intense cold filled the area and the card began to glow.

Tight patterns of magical energy emanated from Cirno and her ice crystal wings began to grow, branching out into something resembling a snowflake. Reimu was visibly shivering before the projectiles even got close and her head began to swim with thoughts about how this fairy became so powerful, where she got the spell card and lastly "What the hell is a Cocytus?". As the dense barrage of magical energy approached Reimu, and her vision began to blur from the cold and stress she thought to herself "Well I'm about to lose to Cirno, Marisa is going to rub this in for months", she then braced herself for impact before a voice cried out "STOP! The cold is too much for her Cirno! she's going to pass out!".

Much to the Shrine Maiden's surprise, the cold stopped instantly, and she saw Daiyousei in between her and Cirno. The ice fairy said "But Dai, you said you wanted more friends and that's how everyone makes friends today! Other than me who else do you have? Willow is all I can think of!". Daiyousei calmly replied "I made friends with Willow without fighting her, I believe I can do the same with Reimu". Reimu still feeling a little delirious from the intense cold thought to herself "That fairy seems nice, she reminds me of Mama" she then began to plummet from the sky before Daiyousei realizing this dove into action firing some green energy at the falling miko. Upon contact Reimu felt healthy and alert, even more so than when she first woke up in the morning righting herself and landing lightly.

The two fairies followed her to the ground Cirno looking quite embarrassed and Daiyousei with a very worried expression. The green haired fairy immediately felt Reimu's forehead upon seeing her saying "Oh good, your temperature is starting to get back to normal you'll be okay". Reimu rather confused by what happened asked Daiyousei "What just happened did you just heal me?" Daiyousei simply nodded in response and checked Reimu's hands to see if temperature returned to them letting out a sigh of relief signifying, they were also returning to normality. Cirno waved to the two and said "Seeing how the fight ended abruptly let's just say we both won" her wings shattered ending up much smaller than before and she flitted off. Daiyousei sighed and muttered to herself "I wish I could be as cheerful as Cirno the forest has been really violent recently". Reimu asked the worried fairy "What's the matter Daiyousei? Can you talk to me about things?" Reimu then thought to herself "Here it goes time to collect some leads".

Daiyousei said nervously "Well as you can guess Cirno woke up with a new spell card recently, so has Sunny, Star, Luna, and some others all of these spell cards are really dangerous, fairies are hurting themselves and others with them, all of them saying really weird things like 'Cocytus', 'Avalon', 'Muspell' and all kinds of things!". Reimu thought to herself "Good to hear I am not the only one who found that weird, I know many words and Cocytus really doesn't sound Japanese" she then pat Daiyousei on the head and said to her "Don't worry I will solve things pretty soon, it's my job to beat up evildoers!". Daiyousei smiled softly and said to the miko "Ah thank you Reimu, I know I can trust you to solve problems, you have been doing it for years!" she then pointed to a path in the west and said to the Shrine Maiden "I know your curious but my friend Willow after recovering from her first encounter when she you know got um, exploded, went down this route to confront one of the youkai responsible, they harassed a friend of hers yesterday, a human I think". Reimu said "I just saved a human who was friends with a fairy last night! , thanks Daiyousei everything is adding up!"

Daiyousei sighed and said to herself "One day I'll get to tell people my real name, without getting ignored, interrupted and otherwise prevented from telling them my name is – ". She was then interrupted by a fairy thrown at a tree beside her which notably wore a tiara made of woven branches and have leaf-like wings. Daiyousei rushed over to the fairy and began using her healing magic, she asked the fairy "Willow are you okay, was it that nasty dog again?" the fairy known as Willow nodded as Daiyousei began healing the fairy.

As Reimu went down the path Daiyousei directed her through she noticed the trees getting denser and the surroundings getting darker until she was unable to see the sky, she thought to herself "I couldn't tell if it was seconds or hours away from noon here, I really hope I still have time". She started hearing rustling and a chuckle from something nearby, as the path began to widen, she readied herself for battle expecting an ambush with Ofuda in one hand and Gohei in the other. She knew that whatever was there happened to see her, and if they had good intentions, they would have made their presence known already.

Much to Reimu's surprise she was surrounded by rustling, completely unable to pinpoint a single target, and from the source of each sound a youkai emerged, some mostly human with canine features, some were avian, some were indistinguishable seemed indistinguishable from humans except for unsightly scars around their neck. Reimu realized there were at least thirty in the crowd and thought to herself "Dammit, I almost want Yukari to snatch me away now, could this day get worse?" as if answering her question a Reimu heard a sleazy sounding voice say "Now babe, what's a pretty little thing like you doing in my neck of the woods, can't get me out of your mind can't you?". From the crowd emerged a male youkai with black hair, orange eyes, clad in a leather jacket with matching trousers, heavy metal toed boots and not much else. Reimu immediately recognizing them as the youkai from last night sighed and shouted, "OH GOD NOT YOU AGAIN!". The youkai Reimu confronted from last night said rather calmly "Don't be like that my Red-White darling, it must be fate for you and me to meet again, so don't be so harsh to your future lover". Reimu who was already angry at the youkai said, "You honestly think I would stoop to a scummy mutt like you?".

The lustful youkai exclaimed "I'm no mutt beautiful, I'm a purebred Hainu! Descended from a long line of warriors, the legendary Toyotomi Hideyoshi fought alongside my one of my ancestors!". The Hainu then assumed a dramatic pose and declared "I am Tozoku Tsubasa, The Thief that Steals the Sky! And Captain of Kokuja's scout force".

Reimu thought to herself "Why does a supposed thief that steals skies and descends from a famous lord's companion go around shirtless?" she then approached him pointing her Gohei at the Hainu glaring at him angrily. Tozoku realizing this hostility told her "No need to be hostile, I can be a good boy …for a good time of course" giving her a smirk and a glance that she assumed was an attempt at seducing her. As she was about to strike him the surround youkai drew weapons and prepared their spells which caused Tozoku to signal for them to be at ease saying in the process "Come on guys, 30 against 1 just ain't sporting, besides I don't want to see her pretty little face get messed up!".

He walked around the miko whispering into her ear "I heard you're the red and white maiden, a night with me and you'll be red in the face too". This did indeed make Reimu red in the face, but out of anger as opposed to any actual attraction. The winged hound noticing and misreading her response chuckled and said, "Like any dog worth talking about I'll be your companion till you get old baby!", Reimu responded angrily "I'm not blushing you idiot!".

Tozuku laughed heartily to Reimu's anger and said "Ah I see it now you're a, what do the Outside worlders call it, a Tsundere? Yeah your one of those, don't worry you'll warm up to me later".Reimu piecing together the forceful pervert's comment about his position as a captain and Daiyousei's mention of a group of youkai asked him trying to sweeten the tone of voice she was using "So I heard you're a Captain, what's someone like you doing in the Forest of Magic". Tozoku thinking he was actually beginning to succeed in wooing the Shrine Maiden replied "Well our leader has received a special gift from an anonymous backer, a silver acorn to grow a White Tree, she was told that if it grows to it's maximum size , all her dreams will come true, with this tree WE WILL BE LEGENDS BABY!". Reimu finally getting a good lead on the incident asked the Hainu with an softer even sweeter sounding voice asked the Hainu "So I heard this tree is affecting fairies, am I correct in this assumption ?" The Hainu now blushing himself replied "Well gorgeous, ever since the tree has started growing fairies have been awfully pesky, stealing leaves and acorns from our tree and trying to fight us, this brat called Willow challenged me seven times already today". Reimu feeling she's found out all she needed returned to her normal voice and said, "Thanks I now know what I need to stop this incident!" She then kicked the Hainu in the face and said "Now to do what I do best! Exterminate youkai".

The Hainu still smiling after the kick declared "Oh you want to stop us then, let's settle things how most incidents are settled! A Spell card Duel!", he then drew knives from his coat and said to the surrounding youkai "Stand back boys, I got a date with destiny!". Reimu thought to herself "I haven't fought a male youkai before, I'm genuinely curious how this may turn out" as she was busy thinking she noticed knives flying at her and dodged with little difficulty and returning fire herself and the Hainu swiftly dodged in turn. Tozoku threw another barrage flying circles around the Shrine Maiden to surround her. Reimu thinking quickly threw, Ofuda at the knives knocking enough out of the sky to fly out of the storm of blades. Remembering the Hainu's evasiveness, drew two Ofuda much different from her standard projectiles and threw them at the winged hound. Tozoku dodged them like he did previous and said "I'm fast baby, there's no hitting me without thinking first" then to his surprise the Ofuda arched in their trajectory and struck him in the back.

The Hainu resumed a more average barrage for Reimu to again dodge and return fire with more homing Ofuda, this continued for a bit until the Hainu, realizing the Shrine Maiden had a means to counter his speed said confidently "I knew you had it in you! But let's change it up okay!" he then drew a card of his own and declared "Blade Sign: Storm Claw!" he then drew more knives from his coat holding one between every finger Reimu expected him to throw them but much to her surprise he started flying right at her swiping the knives as if the were claws. Reimu tried to counter his attack with Ofuda but they were slashed up in seconds, she was going to block with her Gohei but choose against it seeing how quickly her slashed through the projectiles, so running out of options she dove for the ground in an attempt to dodge. The Hainu slammed claws first into a nearby tree and with a swift kick detached them leaving a massive gash in the tree. Within seconds the tree fell and Reimu developed a plan to counter this assault she readied her own spell card and readied herself in front of a tree she perfomed a similar maneuver but the moment the Hainu's blades were struck against the tree she declared "Spirit Sign: Fantasy Seal" this sent a small barrage of magical spheres colliding into the Hainu, which slammed them even harder into the tree causing it to topple on the youkai.

Reimu thinking the battle was over brushed her hands off and said, "Well that's that, looks like the dog is done for!" She approached the believed to be unconscious body of the and checked his state, much to her surprise he was holding a spell card and had a smirk on his face. He declared when she got close "Hound sign: Tornado Fang!" when the card began to glow all the thrown knives around the battlefield began to rattle, and with a matter of seconds they came back to the Hainu. swirling inwards through the sky the Hainu broke through the tree that had pinned him down and said "It ain't over till it's over beautiful" he then flipping upside down in mid air started spinning, kicking the closest knives outwards for them to only come back to him and be kicked away again this pattern of blades started to pick up speed and Reimu started to realize that she was starting to get pulled into this storm of blades. She flew against the current throwing Ofuda to try to hit the Hainu but with little avail, as she was getting close to the blades she had to come up with a plan, this however didn't work quickly enough so she tried to buy more time through an attempt to fly through the blade storm.

She was hit a few times trying to get through the knives she was not cut by any of the blades, but she sustained a few nasty bruises or her right shoulder, hip and left k nee. Having passed through the blades she noticed the area with the least density of projectiles was right above the Hainu giving the Shrine Maiden a plan for attack. Taking a deep breath, she flew into the storm again this time weaving through the blades more effectively only receiving a few torn patches of her red and white miko attire. Stopping right above the Hainu she proudly declared "Now it looks like this fight is over!". Tozoku glanced up briefly to notice she had already begun her attack and before he could respond the Shrine Maiden's foot collided into the Tozoku's…sensitive area and causing the winged hound youkai to crash headfirst into the ground. Wincing in pain the Hainu cried out "Okay! Okay I give! You beat me fair and square, just don't hurt me Miss Hakurei!". Reimu landed in front of the Hainu with her hands on her hips, with a smile on her face she said "Well, I'm not quite done yet! I need to get some more information from you" Tozoku going onto his hands and knees pleaded "Anything, I'll tell you anything just don't hit me there again, I want to have pups in the future!", Reimu had to admit reducing a cocky youkai like him to such a state felt satisfying but she wasn't unreasonable so she would honour the youkai's willingness to co-operate, she nodded and demanded "Call off the other youkai first, I don't want them to off you if you get to blabby!". Tozoku nervously replied "Yes Milady! Boys, retreat!" he then looked around and noticed not a single one was there, they had left some time during the fight, tearing up a little he said to himself "What happened to Kokuja bonds of loyalty? All of them, my friends, my brothers and sisters all left me…". Reimu crouched down and asked the youkai "What is Kokuja by the way? I'm going to have to beat up your boss at some point so I need to get an idea", Tozuku now at eye level with the Shrine Maiden replied "Kokuja is a group of youkai who fight for the highest bidder, soldiers for hire if you may", Reimu rather disappointed said to herself "Pathetic, just a bunch of mercenaries looking for a quick buck". Tozoku was clearly not happy with what the Shrine Maiden and declared "We're more than that, our boss is a Genso-Lunar war veteran, she fought against House Watatsuki alongside Yukari Yakumo! She's got plans baby, plans that can change the world!". Reimu thought to herself "Oh crap, she's going to be another ideologue that goes on about how they want to make Gensokyo getter aren't they?" remembering her previous encounters with religious rivals and how she clashed with each of them at least once, even Byakuren despite her peaceful demeanour clashed with the miko before "She better not be some religious leader, my shrine struggles enough as is" she thought. She then asked her defeated foe "You are pretty loyal to your boss despite being left in the dust, why is that?" Tozoku now actually crying said "The boss took me in as an orphan! Even if my comrades betray me, she would never!" Reimu was starting to feel genuinely sorry for the winged hound, at least regarding parentage she could relate.

Changing her tone to be a bit gentler she asked Tozoku "So, can you tell me what this White Tree does? I have to stop your boss's plan not just for the sake of Gensokyo but for her sake too, I don't want Yukari to get angry and find her", Tozoku smiled and nodded replying with "So the tree is a gate, and apparently someone on the other side of it has the ability to grant wishes, we need to get it at full size though if we are to get anything so we have been working hard to get it growing as fast as possible". Reimu thought to herself "That's probably why it's roots grew out so far the tree needed more nutrients to deal with it's rapid growth", Tozoku added "The boss diverted the ley lines to converge at the tree and we have been collecting fertilizer for weeks!". Reimu then thinking about the Nuppeppo asked "What do Nuppeppo have in your plans? I heard a number of them were were forced from their home" Tozoku replied in a grim tone "Those disgusting things? Well if a human eats one they gain eternal youth, if a Youkai eats them we get stronger, you can figure that they make good fertilizer" Reimu's sympathy for a split second turned to rage, it was true Nuppeppo were disgusting youkai, and she heard that even humans ate them at one point but to think something as harmless as the Nuppeppo that showed up at her door got killed just to make a tree grow a little bigger really got to her, she kicked the Hainu in the face saying "You depraved monster! They deserve life as much as any human or youkai!". The even more injured and possibly slightly concussed Hainu said with a bit of a blush on his face "Look I didn't make the plan myself, I just follow orders, I am not sure what else I can tell you about things, I only know as much as my rank lets me, I personally thought maybe we should have just let them go". Reimu turned her back to the youkai and said "Just be a good dog and don't go sniffing around for trouble next time, I won't be so friendly should I ever see you again" The Hainu then absent mindedly started sniffing and said "Something smells totally rancid in the southwest, like a moldy sandwich soaked in stale sake, and mushrooms" right before Reimu left. This piqued the Shrine Maiden's interest having remembered a the Nuppeppo smelling similarly awful she realized that should she find the source of the smell she might just be able to find her childhood friend and the Amagimi she wronged not so long ago. She approached the Hainu again and asked him "Can you pinpoint this smell?" The injured Hainu pointed to a patch of tree's felled in the battle and said, "Go down that pathway, stop after 20 minutes of walking, if the source keeps moving at it's pace you will intercept it". Reimu said happily "Thanks for that! I was going to hit you again seeing how I know you tried to sneak a peek when I kicked you, but I'll forgive you for that". She then walked down the path hoping to reunite with her friends, not aware that Tozoku was stumbling after her saying "I didn't mean to Milady, please forgive me!" repeatedly, too far away to be heard.

Reimu calmly walked down the path thinking to herself "Okay I have to think of a good apology, how about, Ms. Hijiri I am sorry for my outburst I was b*tch- nah she will hate it if I swear, how about I am sorry, you have been nothing but kind to me but I treated you with hostility today, you deserve better than that- no that doesn't sound right either, maybe I should show I am aware of what she went through, when I thought I had it bad she had the grave of someone she loved trashed, I have no idea how I would cope with that, not that I have many loved ones in the first place". She then cried a bit. Realizing the path was converging with another and realizing she was probably in the place she needed to be she sat at the base of a tree and started pondering. She remembered the woman from her dream last night, whose presence made her so upset, she seemed nice so the miko thought it wasn't because they were cruel, but a part of her thought she should better remember this woman, as the only thing she could recall was the fact they had long hair and wore red clothes. She then thought about Yukari's social engagement and the implications behind it, did she really have to find a husband? Did she really need to make an heir? She knew she wanted to maybe marry and have a child one day, but she wasn't sure who she wanted to marry or how she wanted to have a child, she was just so busy with her job she never thought of her future. Lastly, she wondered just what could be behind the incident, from what Tozoku said it sounded like they had experience with war, something she felt would not be easy to fight.

She was barely paying attention as she heard a jingling sound and, in the distance, Reimu immediately knew what the sound came from a Shakujo, a staff made for various rituals and to ward off animals often used by monks, probably what the fairy known as Lily meant by 'shaky stick'. Reimu excitedly leapt to her feet, rather eager to reunite with the two she had fought a fairy and winged canine to see again. Just down the path she saw the approaching, the monk and witch she sought, they appeared to be engaging in pleasant banter as they slowly walked closer. Reimu no longer able to hold her emotions ran to the two crying out "Marisa! Ms. Hijiri!" while in motion. When the two noticed the Shrine Maiden, Marisa waved to her and Byakuren gave a partial bow in respect, it seemed the two were overall glad to see her. When Reimu was close enough the amicable Amagimi, Byakuren said "Reimu Hakurei, I understand why you said what you did, I am deeply so-", Reimu interrupted "Don't you apologize for what I said, I was the one out of line, I should not have accused you of stealing faith and trying to convert me, neither should I have called you a demon queen, considering your time spent in Makai" tearing up a little she added "I have been having a bad day but it's nothing compared what you have been through, a stupid social obligation and unwelcome visitor is nothing compared to having the grave of a loved one demolished".

Byakuren seemed genuinely shocked to hear the apology, at a loss for words for at least a minute, Reimu taking this silence badly, uttered "I understand if you don't forgive me, if I was you I am not sure I would forgive me either, I just apologized because I felt you were owed one", Byakuren answered the Shrine Maiden's concern "Reimu, I understand completely, and I feel your apology was sincere, I forgive you" she then asked the shrine maiden as she had before "Would you like to join us on this journey? We are investigating the mysterious White Tree and are hoping to reunite the lost child with their family, I have a feeling I know the answer seeing how far you have gone and those wounds you have endured". Reimu nodded and approached the Amagimi wrapping her arms around her answering the question "Yes! A thousand times yes! It's the least I can do to make things up to you", Byakuren patted the Shirine Maidens head and embarrassedly responded to the hug "Oh Reimu, I would love to reciprocate but my hands are quite full". Marisa took the box and Shakkujo off Hijiri's hands saying "For this I'll be the one who watches over Pepp, the two of ya can have yer touching moment without any trouble now", Reimu curious about what Marisa uttered in a perplexed tone "Pepp?", Byakuren let out and gentle laugh and rectified the confusion stating "It's the nickname Marisa came up with for our little character, we had a bit of a journey ourselves to say the least", from the box sounded a "Pepp!" which caused the monk to add "They like it themselves so we decided to stick with it".

Resuming the moment the two had Byakuren lifted Reimu slightly above the ground and let the Shrine Maiden rest her head on her shoulder, the monk assured "Reimu Hakurei, many people in Gensokyo care for you dearly, Marisa and I are no exception, if you ever feel sad, lonely, angry, or even bored you can rely on either of us to help". Reimu asked the monk while crying "why do you want to be so kind to me? Shouldn't you see me as a rival?", Byakuren brushing her fingers through the miko's hair replied "It's because regardless of your position, regardless of what you have said or done, I see your heart is usually in the right place. You remind me of when I was young, I made many mistakes, I let my emotions get the better of me, I would even get into a few scuffles back then", Reimu laughed a little at the mental image she had of the amicable Amagimi's adolescence saying to her "I find that hard to believe, are you sure you are remembering it correctly?", "Definitely, I once punched a fellow Bhikkhuni when she made clear lustful intentions for my brother, when he stepped in to break things up I ended up punching him too" the monk claimed embarrassedly. Reimu's response was "No way! I would not have taken you as that type of person, I think I like you a little more for knowing that".

Marisa hearing the story set down the staff and box and joined in the hug saying, "Aw jeez you two are just adorable together! Like a real mom and daughter", Reimu started crying but she didn't know why, wiping her tears away and resuming her comfort, she reveled in the shared loving warmth.

It was a good fifteen minutes before they released from the embrace, Reimu picking up the Donation box and checking on Pepp, who was happily munching away on mushrooms, Byakuren picked her staff up carefully wiping dirt off it's metal top and Marisa gave her equipment a double check, the three had wordlessly agreed to head resume their investigation with a newfound vigor.

Just then Tozoku stumbled out in front of them fell face first, onto the path surprising all of them, Reimu cried out "OH GODS NO! NOT HIM AGAIN!", Byakuren rushing to the Hainu's aid flipped the wounded Hainu onto his back, propped him up and asked "Young man are you okay? You are badly wounded!". Marisa gave Reimu a puzzled look saying "You know this guy? Care filling us in?", Reimu noticing her friend's confusion said, "Oh yeah I should fill you two in on what I found".

Tozoku regaining some consciousness looked up at Byakuren and gazed in amazement, he asked in a tone of utter awe "Are you a goddess? Because you are the most beautiful person, I have laid eyes upon!", Byakuren rather embarrassed by the youkai's attraction to her responded "Of course not! I am but a monk, though I confess I am flattered". Her then passed out saying "Oh man, she's cute too, I think I'm in love" a little bit of blood ran out of his nose a few seconds later. The monk rather worriedly shook the youkai crying out "Reimu, Marisa! This young man needs medical assistance! He's delirious!", Reimu called out to her "Don't worry, he'll be fine, he spoke like that even before he was beaten up" in a attempt to reassure her. Byakuren rather confused set the Hainu against a tree and said, "Oh dear, what a peculiar fellow", Marisa and Reimu looked at Byakuren and thought of what the Hainu said, the two laughed and resumed their walk through the forest. Byakuren following, called out to the two "I don't understand! What's so funny? Can one of you girls explain?


End file.
